Kelli Wefenstette '07
Urban Studies  - Chicago, IL
kwefenst@monm.edu
Cuba, IL

December 13, 2006

Yesterday was my last day of class in this Chicago Urban Studies program and as I often do, I felt it was over before it was actually over. I'm not sure why I do it the way I do, but as soon as I am done, I move on to the next chapter in my life even before the others are done.

I feel like I have flown through this semester experiencing and discussing things that are so much deeper than I ever have before, that I haven't even processed the things that I've done. Yesterday we had to think about funny things that had happened to us throughout the semester and I could not think of a single thing. I can't remember the places I've been and the organizations we've visited. It's like it has a blended together and left me with an uneasy feeling. I think it's going to take a while to sort through it all and make sense of all that has happened this semester.

I wish I could have written more throughout the semester--and I tried. But every time I sat down to write about my experiences, it feels too cheap to put into words; I didn't want to trivialize the experience.

But sitting here the day after it is all done, so much has changed in me throughout this semester. Even those people who I couldn't stand at the beginning of the semester, I have gotten to know better and I will miss them. I have learned so much about myself throughout this whole process and I feel that I am overflowing with information and trying to find the right places to put it all.

We have been through some heavily exhausting debates and work and I feel that it's all going to hit me soon. This has been the most emotionally, physically (in some senses), and intellectually demanding semester I have ever experienced and I feel that even though I'm taking a full load at Monmouth this last semester, it will be a breath of fresh air compared to everything here.

I don't know. I don't have much to say to reflect right now because it's going to take me the rest of my life to sort through, but it's a beautiful process and I'm excited to say the least.

November 8, 2006

So yesterday was Election Day in Chicago! Let me tell you, it was quite the experience! I was up at 3 am and hit the streets by 4 am to hang door hangers on all the doors in my precinct. I was a Precinct Captain which was a huge responsibility, but was totally worth it!

We were working on a Balanced Development Referendum that would require developers to set aside 15% of all new developments of 10+ units at an affordable price so that working class families and long time residents of Albany Park have the option of staying in their neighborhood once the neighborhood begins to gentrify. For instance, if a condo costs $300,000 we would ask them to set aside 15% at 150,000 (still not cheap!!!). So much work went into this referendum and we've been door-to-door and making phone calls forever (they started in July even though I didn't get there until September).

The second referendum Albany Park Neighborhood Council was working on was the Housing Referendum. Nonprofit hospitals are receiving $300,000,000 in tax breaks every year, but are only giving back $100,000,000 in free care--even though the CEO of Advocate Hospital got a $1.5 million raise last year! So the referendum asked tax payers if they feel the money should be refunded should the hospitals not use it in free care!

So needless to say, yesterday was crazy! I ran my precinct 3 full times with one other volunteer named Digna. We also stood outside the polling location passing out handbills, driving voters to their polling place, and updating our voter lists.

We had an after-party at an all you can eat Thai Restaurant on Kedzie and Iriving. As the results came in (some are still coming in), the hospital referendum passed by OVER 90%!!!! Our housing referendum passed in all our precincts and mine was 77%!!! That's an amazing feeling when people that you have talked to for months actually go and vote for your cause!

THERE IS SO MUCH POWER IN VOTING!

It was also a closer glimpse into Chicago politics and boy was that interesting. We had the alderwoman's staff harassing us all day--asking us who we worked for and trying to get voters to not pay attention to us!!!

BUT WE STILL PASSED IT! And I didn't go to bed until almost midnight!

September 23, 2006

My life is like living in a dream. These passing days have just been experience in every aspect of the word. Chicago is beautiful and I love walking downtown at night because it makes me feel so small and so delicate. And when I wake up they send us all over the city--tired and exhausted, transferring from bus to train and back again. Learning about African-American history and environmental racism and sitting in eviction court fighting back tears.

This is life. This is life. This is LIVING. And I reside with four beautiful girls who are so talented and so sweet. So many nights we just sit around this tiny apartment and laugh and shake our heads. And it's beautiful to watch them living and using laundr-o-mats for the first time--us huddling over a CTA map, tracing the swirling colors with our pinkies.

And I didn't get my first choice internship as they only want grad students from now on. I know there is a reason for that, but as I set at a tiny desk posing as the community organizer I am while making phone call after tired phone call...I wonder what that reason is. And it's not that I don't like interning at the Albany Park Neighborhood Council--I believe in their referendums and their cause, but I’m not the type of girl to knock door-to-door to discuss politics with you.

And this was my choice--it's so convenient, it's so close, it's so flexible. So flexible in fact that I sat in the hallway of the building today waiting for my supervisor to show up and when she didn't, I went home. She sounded sad when I told her that I wasn't coming back today, but I can't waste precious minutes just wait-wait-waiting for something to do. But I did tell her that I would come in to tomorrow to help her.

And beautiful things laugh at you later things, have been happening. Jimmy and I unknowingly went to an African Spiritualist church last weekend and we almost died when we realized that we were the only non-Africans, the only ones still wearing shoes (we felt so bad), the only ones not dressed in white. It was a big oops, but we smiled through the beautifully wild worship and then picked up trash off the streets the whole way home. The other night I stayed in the office late to make phone calls and as I was getting ready to leave, my flip flop broke. So I walked home with one shoe, bare foot against the pavement and thought of how lucky I am to even have one shoe.

And we took a trip to a neighborhood elementary school that houses 1200+ students--with less than 7% being Caucasian. As we walked past classrooms looking at flags, and culture, and world maps with tiny little dots and names all over them, I had to clench and unclench my fists in excitement. As we left through the enormous front doors, I whispered down the hallway that I want to send my children there, just so that school knows she's doing a good job.

And something’s are hard here because sometimes life is hard. Jimmy and Kevin first found out that their high school hangout/ice cream shop is closing and then found out a few days later that their high school is also closing its doors.

And my family is so far away from me, my mom's voice sounds so distant to me on the phone. People, people are hard too. It is impossible to not feel when you're in this lonely city with so many lonely people.

But the days, each day, every day . . . they are beautiful :)